A/N (Whole Thing): Speculation won't be added to this, because at that time I didn't think I'd actually get motivated to write more one shots and then this happened.

Again, I haven't actually read/watched that much Fairy Tail outside of Jerza-centric chapters and episodes because I was introduced through my addiction to shipping and therefore through Jerza, so please forgive any terrible OOC-ness.

Pairings that may or may not appear/be mentioned: Gajeel/Levy, Natsu/Lucy, Laxus/Mira, Juvia/Gray (and more)

A/N (This Oneshot): This oneshot was inspired by my years listening to girls reading tabloids and my (drunk) dramatic readings of Cosmo for friends. Weekly Sorcerer with all its petty gossip and excessive cheesecake spreads seems like an underused thing in FT fanfics (or at least Jerza ones), so I had to bring it in here. Since Erza's really shameless when she doesn't know Jellal's watching I think it creates a perfect storm of opportunity for a shameless fanfic courtesy of me.

Takes place roughly in the same (soon will become AU) timeframe as Speculation, though before Erza and Jellal began dating. That means Zeref is defeated, Fairy Tail exists again, and Crime Sociere is defeating the small number of dark guilds still remaining.

Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail. If I did it would be really shipping focused and not Fairy Tail at all so yeah.

In Which A Picture is Worth 1000 Words

Meredy and Ultear had sometimes needed girl time away from Jellal. Because he was more recognizable, this often came when shopping trips were necessary. The female members of Crime Sorciere would go into town and shop for whatever necessities they would need. Of course, they would spend extra time buying less necessary things, getting meals at cafes, and reading trashy gossip magazines.

While there were quite a few magazines, Weekly Sorcerer was by far their favorite. It had less to do with the brand and more to do with availability and the content. The magazine was one of the few that could be found in every town they passed through, and would often cover guilds or mages that they were familiar with. On the rare occasion that Erza was featured, Ultear and Meredy found delights in teasing Jellal with whatever information they'd gleaned. Despite her popularity in Fiore, Erza wasn't often featured. Meredy supposed this was due to her guild's 7 yearlong disappearance. It wasn't easy to write features on someone who wasn't doing anything at all.

Initially after Ultear's death and Oracion Seis joined her small guild, Meredy couldn't find time for these small outings to read whatever juicy gossip had come out of the official guilds. Fortunately, after Tartarus, she had found that Sorano was also interested in whatever gossip was available. She would tend to hold the knowledge rather than use it to tease Jellal, but Meredy assumed she was saving it for future use. They would sneak off once a week to get their trashy magazines and discuss what they'd read. In a group of men, it was the time when they could both revert back to the tendencies that reflected their sex and age.

This week in preparation for summer the magazine had a feature on bikini bodies featuring training tips from Erza, Mira, Jenny, Lucy, and many other fit female mages. While that article was interesting enough, a later feature was a bit more eye-catching. She and Sorano had read it together, but only Meredy truly understood how she could use it properly. Of course the former Oracion Seis knew that Jellal and Erza knew each other well and that they were romantically interested in one another, but they didn't know quite how deep those feelings ran.

The title of the article in question? Titania: Life, Love, and Pursuit of Happiness. The photo? Erza in a bunny costume she had declared her favorite.

The guild had stopped to rest for the day by a lake. Macbeth was napping while Erik, Richard, and Sawyer had begun setting up tents. Sorano, after finishing her read of the Weekly Sorcerer, had gone to set up the girls' accommodations.

Jellal, as had become typical when there was no dark guilds to defeat, was sitting beneath a tree reading some academic text about magic he had acquired during the defeat of some dark guild or another. Due to his ability to use many types of magic, he would spend hours reading in order to master his lesser used skills. Rarely he'd read about dark guilds, but for the most part he would get that information from the gossip of locals. The other guild members found his reading to not be worthwhile, but he found it enlightening.

Jellal watched over the top edge of his current book to catch Meredy walking towards him, something in her hands hidden behind her back. While he trusted her with his life, he could never trust her not to cause trouble. He tried to hide his suspicions, but he couldn't hide a slight anticipatory twitch of the eyebrow.

"Hey, Jellal," Meredy said sweetly. Nothing good could come of this and he knew it. That tone of voice never preceded anything but teasing. Whatever was behind her back was the key to this.

"Yes, Meredy?" He tried to keep his voice stoic so as not to tip her off, though he knew she would know he was suspicious about this.

"You know Erza's been interested in babies lately?" Meredy told him in the same sickeningly sweet voice.

A lot of the article was mundane things that she was sure Jellal knew – her favorite food (Strawberry Cakes), her daily schedule, what her favorite brands were, etc. None of those answers provided good material to tease Jellal with. A section asking about her hobbies had provided her better bait – Erza had commented on how fun it was to play with a guild mate's daughter and had gone as far as to say that she wanted children of her own to play with. That certainly was an interesting idea to put into Jellal's mind. He was already squirming despite his best efforts to hide it.

"She's been playing with the young children in the guild lately," Meredy explained. "I think her friends in the guild as well have been baby crazy as well. You know if Mira's that way, Erza will match." There was no evidence that Mira had caught onto the baby fever and Juvia was always baby crazy when it came to Gray, but Meredy knew she could push a few more buttons, so she did.

Jellal still wasn't talking, admirably trying to keep a straight face. Still Meredy swore she heard something about Juvia probably phrasing something wrong and that he would be happy if Erza could find a good husband. Meredy knew her teasing was working.

Of course Meredy would know what Fairy Tail's female mages were up to. She was good friends with Juvia, and the two liked to gossip. Still, Jellal had no idea where she got this new information. They hadn't seen any Fairy Tail mage in months. Even though the very recent defeat of Zeref had effectively stopped the creation of new dark guilds, there were still some lingering. He didn't know why, but he had become anxious to defeat them quickly. Secretly, he hoped Erza's baby craze was something Meredy had misinterpreted. She deserved better, and he hoped she would have a husband worthy of being her child's father. He wouldn't admit that he wanted himself as the father; he wasn't worthy of her.

"I hope she finds someone to have a child with," Jellal said, done translating his thoughts into something coherent for Meredy to hear. She knew she had to use another weapon.

"I've also heard that Erza's got a new bunny suit she really likes," Meredy said in an innocent tone. His face began to tint itself red. She took this as a cue to slowly slide the magazine from behind her back to show him the full page spread of Erza in her precious new scarlet red bunny costume. Jellal's eyes widened and one hand dropped the book to cover up his nose. He turned his head, hopelessly trying to hide his nosebleed.

Regaining composure once again, Jellal took the magazine from Meredy's hands and closed it. He handed her his book. "This might be more useful reading material, Meredy. It's a text on advanced uses of various forms of magic." Meredy didn't fight the switch; instead she watched as the hopeless man stalked off to his tent with the magazine. She wasn't sure if she was happy he was stealing her magazine to stare at Erza or if she was mad that another issue was stolen by one of her guild mates.

Only later did she find out what Jellal wanted with it. Erik had come up to her after dark, blaming her for causing Jellal to have thoughts he had no interest in hearing.

"Can't you find a way to just get him to hook up with Erza so I don't have to listen to a sexually frustrated Jellal all night?" Erik pressured her.

Meredy thought about that for a second. She'd tried various methods before, but none while Jellal was distracted by the thought of Erza to this degree. "I might have an idea," she replied slyly.

Mira watched the doors of Fairy Tail curiously as two figures dragged a third inside. The two individuals who were walking dropped the third at a table adjacent to the bar. One walked off to the other end of the hall to sit with Kinana while the other sat in front of her at the bar. Once Meredy removed her hood, Juvia sprang over to her in greeting.

After a long greeting, Mira looked over to see the third individual had still not moved. She walked around to get a better look at him. Blue hair poked out under the hood of his cloak and a distinctive red tattoo was barely visible on one side of his face. Although she'd only seen him a few times, the person was easily recognizable as Jellal.

"Is Erza here?" Mira heard Meredy asked.

"No, she's out. I think she'll be back in a few days," Mira replied. She watched Meredy's face drop in disappointment.

"That's too bad," Meredy said. "We can only stay a night." There went that plan.

"Is Jellal okay?" Mira asked.

"Just sleeping," Meredy replied. "I put him in a sensory link with Macbeth, who is almost always asleep."

"May I ask why?"

"He saw the latest issue of The Weekly Sorcerer," Meredy mentioned without admitting any fault on her part. "I figured he would want to see Erza."

Mira picked up on what Meredy had been trying. "That was a good picture of Erza, wasn't it?"

Meredy heartily agreed.

"It's a shame that didn't work out for you," Mira told her. "Perhaps another time?"

Meredy slid an envelope over the table to Mira. "Perhaps you could send Erza our way next time?"

"Of course," Mira said with a smile to match Meredy's wicked grin.

With that, Meredy returned to her more casual conversation with Juvia. When she and Erik left, Jellal was still asleep, so he was one again dragged out of the guild and back to Crime Sociere's campsite.

"Erza! It's good to see you back," Mira said, greeting her oldest frenemy as she sat down at the bar after a long mission. "Someone," Meredy, Mira added silently, "dropped this off for you a few days ago." Mira hadn't looked inside the envelope, but Meredy's smile at the time had given her an indication. She hid her suspicions well under her bright smile.

Erza looked at the envelope in curiosity. She rarely got mail, and when she did it went directly to Fairy Hills.

"Do you know who it was?" Erza interrogated Mira.

"I don't remember," Mira said with a smile. Erza doubted that Mira was telling the truth, but opened the envelope anyways. She pulled out a piece of paper from inside. Although Mira couldn't tell what it was, the blush on Erza's face coupled with the glossy look of the paper convinced Mira that this was a photo, likely of Jellal, and he was likely in some compromising position.

While Erza stared at the photo, Cana grabbed it from her hands.

"Damn he's hot Erza! Quite a catch there," Cana said after examining the picture. She placed the photo on the bar and turned it towards Mira. In the photo an apparently unaware Jellal stood in a pond running his fingers through his hair. He appeared naked, but it was hard to tell with the water coming up to his waist. Small drops of water clung to his muscles, emphasizing his physique.

Cana had already gotten to the envelope and was pulling out the remaining photos. She only saw a few more of Jellal in the pond and one of Jellal's very peaceful sleeping face before Erza angrily grabbed them out of her hands. She appeared to be on her way out.

"Erza! I remembered," Mira said, "it was a member of Crime Sociere. They were wondering if you wanted to see them?"

Erza turned around and attempted to hide her mix of embarrassment and anger. Instinctively her hand clenched, wrinkling the photos. "Where are they?"

"I believe they said they're camping outside Hargeon," Mira said.

Erza stomped out of the guild, seemingly on a mission. Mira wondered how Meredy knew that would work. Perhaps their separation was wearing on Erza worse than Mira had thought. Hopefully they would figure it out for the sake of their guilds. If Meredy's visit had been any indication, Crime Sorciere was just as annoyed by the situation as Erza's close friends. Mira hoped Meredy's attempts would work, but didn't say anything.

Alas, upon finding the camp site in a cave on the coast outside Hargeon, Erza decided to watch silently. She had seen the tents, but no one had come out. She stayed for a few hours before she saw the male members of Crime Sorciere return. The men she recognized as being from Oracion Seis had brought food back and were cooking it over the campfire. From what she heard of their conversation, Sorano and Meredy had gone to Hargeon for shopping and dinner while the men were on their own.

She continued to watch as Jellal walked to the isolated cove hidden from the cave by a rock formation. He slowly stripped down, folding his clothes carefully on a rock before going into the ocean with a bar of soap to wash off the sweat he'd surely produced on such a hot day. Behind him the sun set over the ocean, painting the sky orange. It was mesmerizing, to see those pictures Meredy had left for her come to life. Sneaking up on him would break her illusion, so she couldn't bring herself to do it. Erza had to admit, it did turn her on a bit that he had no idea she was watching. She wondered if she was bold enough to steal his clothes so that she could keep the view.

In her reverie, Erza lost her balance and fell backwards into a bush. When she sat up she saw Jellal looking her way. He had put his pants on and was walking to the rock. She tried to find a way to get out, but there was no way to escape out of his sight. She stood up, resigned to her fate.

"Erza?" Jellal said in surprise. "What are you doing here?"

"Mira told me you were camping here. It was close enough to come see you," Erza replied shyly. She wouldn't admit the naughty thoughts planted in her head by those pictures Meredy had left were motivation enough. He quickly got the rest of his clothes on, so as to not offend her. Or at least so he wouldn't wear so little he thought would offend her.

"Would you like to come eat dinner with us?" He asked, smiling as if he didn't know she'd watched his impromptu bath.

Erza nodded and followed with a smile on her face.

Omake: 2 Months Later

Meredy finally had time to visit Mira at the guild to tell her how the plan had worked out. She slumped down on the bar, telling Mira that things hadn't necessarily went as well as they had wanted.

"When Sorano and I returned from town they were eating with the rest of Crime Sorciere and talking about recent missions," Meredy said in a decidedly disappointed tone.

"So they didn't spend time together alone?" Mira asked.

"No. As soon as dinner was over Erza left to go back to an inn in Hargeon. But…" Meredy paused, holding a juicy piece of information.

"But?" Cana popped in. Meredy assumed she needed to know every juicy piece of information and nothing would stop her, so she decided to keep going.

"Erik did say she watched him take a bath in the ocean before dinner," Meredy said, a sly smile on her face.

"Oh? Tell me more," Cana egged her on. Mira leaned forward, echoing the sentiment.

"There isn't more to tell," Meredy said. "She just watched and he was unaware. Erik did let it spill that Erza had some really dirty thoughts throughout, but nothing more happened.

"I'm sure it will work out someday," Mira said.

"God I hope so," Cana said. "Or I'm going to get them both naked and lock them in a room together."

Meredy laughed, secretly hoping it wasn't just a joke. Next time, maybe she should include the drunken mage in her planning. It was obvious she needed all the help she could get.

A/N: I didn't really know how to end that, so I just kinda went with the flow. More oneshots are to come. Only one is planned at the minute, but I'm sure plot bunnies will appear.